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Among the various disposal strategies for sewage sludge (SS), soil application is the most suitable. This study was conducted to evaluate soil amendment with SS (0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 g/kg) and its impact on soil fertility and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) growth. The SS significantly improved the agromorphological attributes, the number of produced fruits, and the fruit biomass of tomato plants. The 30 g/kg application of SS led to the highest growth rate and fruit yield. Considering the fruits, the best safe enrichment of metal nutrients was recorded at 30 g/kg, with a significant increase in the micronutrient metals Mn, Zn, Ni, Cu, and Fe with 624, 193, 125, 70, and 32%, respectively, compared to the control. The SS amendment enhanced soil fertility, and heavy metals were within the permissible ranges for agricultural soils. Bioaccumulation factors (BFs) indicated that SS application induced the accumulation of most of the studied metals in the roots, and the BF values of Zn, Cu, Ni, and Pb were > 1. The current study concluded that recirculating SS nutrient components to agricultural soils could offer a valid solution for the sustainable management of this organic waste and enhance plant-crop productivity.

The application rate of a nitrogen fertiliser is one of the most important factors that affect the nitrous oxide (N₂O) flux. Calk ammonium nitrate with 27% nitrogen content was spread by a fertiliser spreader VICON RS-L connected with a tractor Zetor 16145 and incorporated into the soil by a power harrow Pöttinger Lion 301 six hours after spreading. Monitoring points were selected based on the size of application rate 0, 100, 200 and 300 kg/ha and were measured 7, 14, 21 and 28 days after fertiliser application and incorporation into the soil. Nitrous oxide emissions were measured by a photoacoustic field gas monitor INNOVA 1412 with a multipoint sampler INNOVA 1309. Based on the data obtained, there were found statistically significant differences among time intervals and among the size of the application rate at a 95.0% confidence level. Results have shown impacts of the size of fertiliser application rate and time interval after fertilisation on nitrous oxide flux.

A congenital defect that blocks the cerebrospinal fluid outflow is the most common cause of hydrocephalus in young cats. It usually manifests itself within a few weeks of birth. Diagnostic imaging is essential. Therefore, it was decided to report on, for the first time, a clinical case of congenital hydrocephalus in a Maine Coon foetus detected using ultrasound during pregnancy. A difference between the size of the skull bones in the Maine Coon foetuses was recognised during a routine pregnancy ultrasound. Analysis of the sonogram of the bones and brain structures of the diagnosed foetus revealed that the features were highly suggestive of a hydrocephalus. Five clinically healthy kittens and one with hydrocephalus were delivered without complications. The necropsy of the malformed foetus was consistent with the ultrasonographic findings. Bacteriological and virological tests were performed and all were negative which suggest a congenital background of the malformation. This is the first reported case of an intrauterine ultrasound diagnosis of congenital hydrocephalus in a Maine Coon of multiple gestation. The ultrasound control along with the foetometry seem to be useful tools to recognise certain pathologies of pregnancy in cats, including congenital malformations of various origins, which is of significant diagnostic and prognostic importance.

Currently, it is difficult to identify correct data on wood sources and their consumption in the Czech Republic. Official statistics of wood production are relatively limited to obtaining data that accurately captures the objective wood production, which would enable the observation of the direction or consumption of particular tree species or products. This uncertainty is then transferred to the wood flow for industrial and energy processing, and it is not possible to compose a detailed picture of how much wood and which sources enter into the wood processing and how large the total material flow is. The aim of this paper is to present an option for how to determine this lack of valid information that enables clear outcomes necessary for decision making by means of the recalculation of wood sources consumed in the Czech Republic, using the data of processing capacities and foreign trade. The reverse model better expressed a conversion value of roundwood into the products and allowed optimal approximation in the wood sources assessment.

The population structure of Phytophthora capsici among asexual and sexual progenies was analyzed using ISSR. Thirty asexual progenies of one parent and three sexual populations were assayed for genetic diversity using 5 ISSR primers and DNA from 120 offspring of P. capsici was amplified. In total, 71 reproducible ISSR fragments were obtained, of which 100% were polymorphic, revealing high polymorphism among the isolates. Among them, the percentages of polymorphism of sexual and asexual progeny isolates were 100.00 and 77.46%, respectively. Genetic similarity coefficients among all the isolates ranged from 0.54 to 0.73. The sexual offspring population showed much more variability than the asexual offspring population with 76.26% variability attributed to diversity within populations as compared with 23.74% among populations. This research reveals that the sexual progeny population of P. capsici contributes more genetic diversity than that of asexual progeny population.

The processing of chocolate bars is influenced by cocoa beans used. Chocolate bar is one of the downstream products with a simple processing process. The taste and aroma in candy comes from chocolate bars. Fermentation is an important activity in the formation of cocoa flavour. This study aims to determine the panellists' acceptance of chocolate bars produced from various fermentation treatments of sun-dried cocoa beans. The materials used in this study were cocoa beans of varieties of Lindak. The fermentation variation consisted of two treatments, namely, the addition of the inoculum gradually (A1) and the addition of the inoculum simultaneously at the beginning of fermentation (A2). The inocula added were Sacharomyces cerevisiae (FNCC 3056), Lactococcus lactis (FNC 0086) and Acetobacter aceti (FNCC 0016). The control treatment was dry cocoa beans without fermentation (A0). The fermentation time was 120 h, then the fermented cocoa beans were processed into chocolate bars. The resulting chocolate bars were subjected to sensory analysis including evaluation of the taste of sepia, bitter, and sour taste and in the test the polyphenol content of chocolate bars was used. The results showed that there was a decrease in the septic, bitter and sour taste from treatment A0, A2 and A1, respectively. The highest polyphenol content was in A0, A2, and A1, respectively. Panellists stated that the preferred chocolate bar was made from cocoa beans with A1 treatment.

Contamination of soil and water environment by heavy metals in a former mining area and their effect on the soil characteristics were determined. Soil samples were collected in the village of Rudňany which is, according to environmental regionalization, classified as an environmentally loaded and unhealthy area. Soil samples were collected in 2011 at eight fields situated at different distance from the pollution source. Total contents of heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Zn, Hg), soil reaction (pH), organic carbon (C_ox), activity of urease (URE), acid phosphatase (ACP), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were determined in soil samples. Water samples were collected in Rudniansky creek, which flows through the village. The contents of heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Zn, Hg) were determined in water samples. High contents of heavy metals in soil and water result from long-term mining and smelting activities predominantly focused on copper and mercury production. Numerous heaps of waste material and tailing ponds are the main pollutant sources representing a great threat to the environment, as these pollutants can accumulate in plants and enter the food chain. Extremely high and above-limit values of copper and mercury were determined in the sampled soils. According to the index of geoaccumulation, copper has been shown as a serious contaminant in some soil sampling fields, which were determined as strongly contaminated. In terms of the geoaccumulation index, all sampling fields were evaluated as very strongly contaminated by mercury. We found significant positive correlation between zinc, lead, and copper contents in soils, which is a likely sign of the same source of pollution. A nonsignificant but positive relationship between soil reaction and heavy metals and a negative correlation between soil pH and organic carbon were observed. A high degree of soil pollution was reflected in soil biological properties. Activity of soil enzymes significantly decreased with increasing heavy metals content in soils. Rudniansky creek was polluted only by copper and mercury. The highest and above-limit values of these metals were determined at the point where the stream leaves the village (in a downstream direction).

Gravel mulching is a characteristic agricultural technique that has been used for hundreds of years in the north-western Loess Plateau of China. However, the effects of the gravel-sand mulch on the processes of the runoff, soil erosion, and nutrient losses are neither fully distinguished nor even known in many parts of the world. This study investigated how different gravel particle sizes in the mulch affected the runoff, erosion as well as the extent of the nutrient losses in the surface runoff. The laboratory experiments were conducted using a rainfall simulator with three gravel mulch treatments: (1) fine gravel mulch (FG); (2) medium gravel mulch (MG); (3) coarse gravel mulch (CG) and a control group, bare soil (BS). The results of these rainfall simulation experiments gave estimates on how the grain size influences the runoff and losses of the soil and its nutrients. Applying the gravel mulch significantly delayed the runoff's starting time when compared with the bare soil. Both the total runoff and soil loss increased with the grain size of the gravel mulch. Compared with the bare soil, the lowest surface runoff and soil loss was observed from the fine gravel treatment. These results clearly show that gravel mulch plays an important role in the runoff and sediment generation processes, and that it significantly reduces the surface runoff and soil loss. The losses of the total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and total organic carbon (TOC) from the bare soil were much higher than those under the gravel mulching. The fluctuations in these nutrient-loss processes were the most intense in the CG treatment, while the TC content, in initial runoff, was significantly higher in the FG than the other treatments. Our findings suggest gravel mulch is a useful water and soil conservation technique in the loess area of north-western China, and these results can inform one on the theoretical principles for properly utilising gravel-mulched fields.

The paper shows a large-scale shift in agroclimatic zones in the territory of the Czech Republic (CR) between 1961 and 2019. The method used for agroclimatic zoning took advantage of high-resolution (0.5 km × 0.5 km) daily climate data collected from 268 climatological and 787 rain-gauge stations. The climate information was combined with soil and terrain data at the same resolution. The set of seven agroclimatic indicators allowed us to estimate rates of changes in agroclimatic conditions over the 1961-2019 period, including changes in the air temperature regime, global radiation, drought, frost risks and snow cover occurrence. These indicators are relevant for all main crops and agroclimatic zoning and account for local soil and slope conditions. The study clearly highlights major shifts in the type and extent of agroclimatic zones between 1961-2000 and 2000-2019, which led to the occurrence of entirely new combinations of agroclimatic indicators.

The presence of a significant quantity of gas in the gastrointestinal tract may hinder a proper ultrasonographic examination of the abdominal organs. The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of simethicone and fasting on the quality of ultrasonographic examinations of the gastrointestinal tract and the small organs in the abdominal cavity. Fourteen clinically healthy dogs were examined repeatedly after four different preparation protocols. The visualisation of the organs was assessed subjectively with a 3-point scoring system. The administration of simethicone is superior in the visualisation of the ileum, the ileocolic junction, the pancreas (body and right lobe), the jejunal lymph nodes, and both adrenal glands when compared to no preparation. The combination of the oral administration of simethicone and fasting is superior in the visualisation of the pylorus, the duodenum, the jejunum, the ileum, the ileocolic junction, the pancreas (body, right and left lobe), the jejunal lymph nodes, and both adrenal glands when compared to no preparation. The conclusion and clinical relevance from this exploratory study suggest that the oral administration of simethicone and fasting before an ultrasonographic examination significantly improve the visualisation of some abdominal organs.

A new food and feed self-sufficiency model for the Czech Republic (RESTEP) was applied for the evaluation of possible adverse climate impacts uniformly reducing crop production by 5, 10, 20, and 30%. The situation was simulated for the whole country and four different agriculturally important regions. Biomass production modeling confirmed that for the whole country, the food self-sufficiency is secured up to 20% of yield decline for most crops, but even 5% yield decline of silage maize would lead to its shortage in animal feeding. On the other hand, regional results vary significantly. Regions Jižní Morava and Střední Čechy shown oversupply of feedstuff allowing them to cover the demands of cattle and pigs up to 20% or 30% decline of yield, respectively. The opposite model represents the Vysočina (VY) region which is not able to cover the demands from own sources even at the baseline scenario. The acreage extension of maize is not possible due to erosion risk restrictions at 25% of arable land at VY. The possible solution consists of extension acreage of alfalfa and clover or finding other plants sufficient for feeding as well for biogas facilities in regions rich in biomass energy consumers.

Current animal breeding approaches are strongly associated with the development of sophisticated molecular genetics methods and techniques. Worldwide expansion of genomic selection can be achieved by the identification of genetic DNA markers and implementation of the microarray ("chip") technology. Further advancement was associated with next-generation sequencing methods, high-throughput genotyping platforms, targeted genome editing techniques, and studies of epigenetic mechanisms. The remarkable development of "omics" technologies, such as genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics, has enabled individual genomic prediction of animal performance, identification of disease-causing genes and biomarkers for the prevention and treatment and overall qualitative progress in animal production.

To investigate the effect of microbial inoculum on soil heavy metal immobilisation, pot experiments were conducted with paddy soils contaminated by cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), arsenic (As), and mercury (Hg), respectively. The results showed that the inoculation of Rhodopseudomonas palustris was more effective in the immobilisation of Pb and Cd in soils than the composite of R. palustris and Bacillus subtilis. Interestingly, a lower dosage of inoculum immobilised significantly more heavy metals than the higher dosage, potentially due to the competition of bacteria with limited nutrients. The heavy metal contents in rice grains also supported this finding, as less Pb and Cd were accumulated under the lower dosage. However, there were limited effects of microbial inoculations on the immobilisation of Hg and As. In general, our study indicated the effectiveness of R. palustris in immobilising Pb and Cd in soils and highlighted the importance of determining the optimal dosage of inoculum in bioremediation.

Finding an appropriate method with the highest rate of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) removal from naturally polluted soils is an important research issue. A pot factorial experiment (using contaminated soil samples from the Isfahan Refinery, Iran) was conducted in a 90-day period to compare the following bioremediation strategies: (1) natural attenuation (NA): the inherent ability of soil for bioremediation; (2) bioaugmentation (BA): inoculating soil with PAH degrading microbes Marinobacter hydrocarbonoclasticus; (3) biostimulation (BS): using N, P and K nutrients for the stimulation of bioremediating soil bacteria to achieve the C:N:P ratio of 100:10:1, and(4) bioaugmentation + biostimulation (BS + BA). Treatments NA (22.8%) and BA + BS (63.9%) resulted in the least and the highest rate of PAH removal from the soil. The 2-4 ring compounds had a significantly (P ≤ 0.05) higher rate of degradation than the 5-6 ring compounds. The highest rates were resulted by fluorene (76.41%) and acenaphthylene (72.28%) using the BA + BS treatment. However, the lowest degradation rates were resulted by indeno (1,2,3-cd) pyrene (10.05%), benzo [b] fluoranthene (10.17%), benzo (g, h, i) perylene (12.53%), and benzo [k] fluoranthene (13.67%), using NA treatment. The BA + BS treatments are the most effective method for the bioremediation of PAH polluted soils.

The effect of crop sequences (CR - continuous winter rye; CropR - three-field crop rotation of winter rye-spring barley-bare fallow) and fertilisation systems (unfertilised control, mineral fertiliser (NPK), farmyard manure (FYM)) on crop yield, energy efficiency indicators and land demand were analysed in a long-term experiment under Pannonian climate conditions. Due to lower fuel consumption in the bare fallow, the total fuel consumption for CropR was 27% lower than in CR. It was for NPK and FYM fertilisation by 29% and 42% higher than in the control. Although the energy output was lower in CropR than CR, the energy use efficiency for grain production increased by 35% and for above-ground biomass production by 20%. Overall crop sequences, the NPK treatment had higher crop yields, energy outputs and net-energy output with a lower energy use efficiency than the unfertilised control. CropR increased the land demand just by 20% in comparison to CR, although one-third of the land was not used for crop production. The land demand could be decreased with fertilisation by 50% (NPK) or 48% (FYM). A bare fallow year in the crop rotation decreased the crop yield, energy input and increased the energy use efficiency and land demand.

The objective of this prospective randomised clinical study was to determine the differences in the tracheal, oesophageal and rectal temperature in spontaneously breathing or mechanically ventilated dogs. A total of thirty dogs were allocated to the SPO-group breathing spontaneously (n = 15) or the MEC-group ventilated mechanically (n = 15). Anaesthesia was established using a medetomidine-butorphanol-propofol-isoflurane combination. The tracheal (T-Tra), oesophageal (T-Oes), rectal (T-Rec), inspired gas (T-Gas), room (T-Room) temperatures, respiratory frequency (f_R), heart rate (HR), mean arterial pressure (MAP) and end-tidal carbon dioxide concentration (ETCO₂) were measured after connecting to a re-breathing system (baseline) and subsequently in 10-minute intervals for 60 minutes. The data were analysed using ANOVA and Steel-Dwass tests (P < 0.05). In the SPO-group, the T-Tra, was significantly lower at T30, T40, T50, T60, the T-Oes and T-Rec at T40, T50, T60, compared to the baseline. In the MEC-group, the T-Tra and T-Oes was significantly lower at T30, T40_, T50, T60, the T-Rec at T40, T50, T60, compared to the baseline. In the SPO-group, the f_R was significantly lower for all the times and the ETCO₂ higher at T10, T20, T30, T40, T50 compared to the MEC-group. No other differences were detected. During anaesthesia, there is a comparable decrease in body temperatures, regardless of whether the dogs are breathing spontaneously or ventilated mechanically.

Anthracnose leaf spot caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides is an important disease of apples, resulting in serious damage to the fruit production. In this paper, the pathogenic and physiological characters of sixteen isolates and the wild isolate "Stj16" were studied. In the current study, we generated C. gloeosporioides strains expressing green fluorescence by introducing a GFP gene via an Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation (ATMT). To confirm the subcellular localisation of the A2799 gene, an A2799gfp fusion expression mutant was constructed. After observation of the fusion expression, the A2799gfp fusion expression protein was located in the peroxisomes of the cell. The pathogenicity results showed that the mutants A4204, M44, A1919, A3638 and A1598 lost the pathogenic capability and virulence, however, the virulence of the mutants A1764, A439, A3885, G1183, A3144, A1649 and A2675 increased significantly to the apple fruits compared to the wild isolate "Stj16". The biological study indicated that a Rose Bengal Agar (RBA) medium decreased the mycelium growth, but it can increase the sporulation for most of the isolates. The mutant A4204 does not grow well at pH 4.0 and pH 8.0, and mutant M44 just has the optimum growth at pH 8.0, and a 12 h light and 12 h dark condition stimulates the sporulation for most of the tested mutants, but the A1764 mutant more sporulated at regular dark conditions. All the mutants and "Stj16" grew vigorously at 25 °C-30 °C, for "Stj16", it produced the highest number of conidia at 30 °C compared with the other temperatures. Based on the biological study, we found the best growing and sporulation conditions for all the tested isolates. The information generated in the present study will facilitate molecular research on this devastating fungus.

Adequate assessment of ecosystem services is important for the development of policies and management plans related to forestry activities and the environment. Carefully identified ecosystem values can determine which options policy makers should prioritize to provide the greatest benefit. There are numerous methods used by researchers to evaluate ecosystem services. The most widely applied methods are monetary valuation methods, they are often deemed to be the most pragmatic language when it comes to communication with political and business institutions. The main goal of this review is to analyse available literature using the methodology particular to the scoping review approach in order to identify and describe valuation methods that can be applied for monetary assessment of ecosystem services. As a result of the scoping review, over 20 monetary valuation techniques (including several less common methods such as willingness to sell and Delphi method) were derived from 16 literature sources. In the process of compiling the range of different methods, a few flaws and gaps in the communication of methods were observed such as lack of consistency in the names of different methods and mixing up concepts. In addition, a few areas for future research are suggested.

Electrokinetic remediation (EKR) is a powerful technique aimed at pollutant removal in soil, sludge, mine tailings, and so on. In the current work, we performed a bibliometric analysis of the research on EKR for the period of 1900-2018 on the basis of the core database of the Science Citation Index Expanded. In addition to a basic analysis of the research characteristics, keywords were analysed for four major participants: USA, China, Spain, and South Korea. The periods of 1990-2001, 2002-2008, and 2009-2018 were studied using the keyword analysis method to gain insights into the development of EKR and predict its future trends. The results revealed that the related research field in the USA was broad during the study periods. Meanwhile, China was interested in fluorine pollution and contamination in red soil. Spain paid close attention to pollution due to agricultural contamination. South Korea focused on radioactive element pollution. The number of papers published over a period of 28 years increased steadily and continued to rise after 2008. The combined techniques of EKR + phytoremediation and EKR + bioremediation were successively utilised by scholars over time, and the latter is expected to demonstrate vitality in the future.

This study compared different methods of determining starch digestibility (in vivo vs in vitro) in wheat grains and evaluated the influence of extrusion on digestibility. In vivo starch digestibility was determined in broiler chickens by calculating the residual starch content in their ilea and the digestibility using a chromium oxide indicator. In vitro digestibility was examined using pepsin and pancreatin. During in vivo testing, the highest digestibility coefficient (DC) was achieved by the Bonanza variety in its extruded form (91.19 ± 0.40%). In contrast, the lowest DC was achieved by the Tobak variety in its non-extruded form (81.45 ± 1.92%). Generally, a higher DC was observed in vivo for extruded forms of wheat. During in vitro testing, the highest DC was achieved by the Stefii variety in its non-extruded form (96.10 ± 0.55%), whereas the lowest DC was observed in the Yetti variety in its extruded form (49.72 ± 0.41%). Overall, the in vitro experiments did not exhibit significant differences between extruded and non-extruded forms of wheat. Linear regression analysis showed a strong relationship (r² = 0.860; 85.98%) between in vivo- and in vitro-derived DC values in all wheat varieties, both in extruded and non-extruded forms. The study showed that in vivo testing is a suitable method for the determination and control of starch levels in extruded materials. However, despite the accuracy of this technique, it is also very demanding in terms of time, space, equipment, and methodological knowledge. Therefore, based on the strong correlation between the in vivo and in vitro assays, we recommend in vitro digestibility testing as a preferable alternative.

The study aimed to estimate and characterise soil organic matter under different land uses (cropland, grassland, and forest) and soil depths. The soil organic matter composition of the soil was assessed by diffuse reflectance infrared spectroscopy (DRIFT). Humic and fulvic acids (HAs, FAs) were extracted from soils and their compositions were evaluated by DRIFT. Low molecular mass organic acids content was also measured. Our result revealed that the largest differences of the spectra in the composition of organic matter were observed in the upper parts of the soil profile. The forest soil spectra had more intense aliphatic bands, carboxylic, and CH bands than spectra of grassland and cropland soils. The difference of HAs spectra was at 3 010 to 2 800/cm where the most intensive aliphatic bands were in forest soil HAs, followed by grassland and cropland soil HAs. The grassland topsoil FAs spectrum differs most from the other land uses. It has lower peaks around 1 660-1 600/cm and 1 200/cm than cropland and forest. The concentration of low molecular mass organic acid (LMMOA) was the highest in the forest soil and the most abundant acid was citrate.

Fine root traits are plastic and responsive to increased nitrogen (N) deposition. However, with the restoring of the ecosystem after grain for green, little research has been reported about the response of root traits in a long-term restored ecosystem to increased N deposition. Therefore, a successive N addition experiment was conducted in a long-term restored grassland on the Loess Plateau to analyse the effects of different N addition levels (0, 2.5, 5, 10, 20 g N/m²/year) on root morphological traits, soil carbon (C) and N. Our results showed that root morphological traits (except for root diameter) firstly increased and then declined, with the maximum in the N level of 5 g/m²/year. N addition significantly increased soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, ammonium nitrogen (NH₄⁺-N) and nitrate-nitrogen (NO₃^--N) with the increasing N addition level, especially in the soil surface layer. Specific root length and specific root area had remarkable negative correlations with NO₃^--N, while root diameter and root length density had positive correlations with soil availability N and soil microbial biomass carbon. This study indicated that plants could have the threshold response to adapt to the N addition and prefer to slowly grow rather than quickly invest and return in order to adapt to the environmental stress.

Experiments were carried out to study the consequences of inoculating Rhododendron 'Nova Zembla' and 'Alfred' microcuttings and young plants with Serendipita indica (formerly Piriformospora indica), an endophytic fungus. The inoculation at the in vitro rooting stage decreased the in vitro root and shoot quality, but after planting microplants in a greenhouse in a non-fertilised peat substrate, the plants grew 33% taller, with 10% more leaves and with more abundant roots in comparison with the non-inoculated microplants. The young plants rooted in vitro, acclimated in a greenhouse in a peat substrate and inoculated with S. indica at the time of the transplantation to the pots displayed, after 15 months, an increase in the shoot lengths by 35% and 13%, depending on the cultivar, in the leaf number by 47% and in the chlorophyll content by 31% when compared with the non-inoculated plants. The beneficial effect of S. indica on the young Rhododendron plants indicates the possibility of its practical use in the nursery production of this plant.

New techniques for Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann, 1824) control are being studied and developed to replace traditional organophosphate pesticide applications. A mass trapping strategy offers promising medfly control within integrated pest management (IPM) programmes. Field assays were performed to study the efficacy of two mass trapping techniques based on PheroNorm^® and Ceratrap^® lures that were compared to a conventional approach to control the medfly in Tunisian apricot orchards. The results showed that both mass trapping techniques had a similar efficiency in reducing the C. capitata population. The degrees Brix in the fruits was a determinant issue since the initial apricot fruit damage was detected at 6.4%. At harvesting, the lowest fruit damage rate was recorded in the PheroNorm^® (4.25%) and Ceratrap^® (6.50%) treated orchards, compared with the conventional approach (10.75%). Therefore, the use of 50 PheroNorm^® and Ceratrap^® traps per ha density within an IPM approach may be very useful to control the C. capitata populations in apricot orchards.

The aim of the study was to examine the contents of nitrates and nitrites in raw beef coming from cattle of the Polish Holstein-Friesian breed, black-and-white type, originating from different parts of Poland. The research material comprised semitendinosus and longissimus thoracis muscles obtained from 176 heads of cattle. The content of nitrites in the examined muscles ranged from 0.6 to 13.3 mg kg^-1 in rump muscles and from 0.8 to 13.7 mg kg^-1 in muscles of the back. The most samples were characterised by the presence of nitrites in the range from 1 to 5 mg kg^-1, and the least samples from 11 to 14 mg kg^-1. The contents of nitrates were significantly higher, ranging from 10.2 to 73.5 mg kg^-1 in the semitendinosus muscle and from 10.4 to 74.3 mg kg^-1 in the thoracis longissimus muscle. Such and higher level of contamination may be the cause of meat discolouration after heat treatment despite the absence of curing ingredients. It is necessary to continuously monitor the concentration of nitrates in raw materials, water and feed to ensure the complete safety of food of animal origin.

Slow-release nitrogen fertiliser can potentially increase crop production and improve fertiliser nitrogen use efficiency. However, it is unclear that are suitable for different regions and crops in the northeast of China. Therefore, according to different soil and climate characteristics, we investigated the synchronised relationships between nitrogen slow release fertiliser and nitrogen maize requirements. Experiments were conducted at Shenyang Agricultural University, Liaoning province, Northeast China, from 2016 to 2017. Stabilised fertiliser treatments increased grain yield, nitrogen use efficiency and nitrogen accumulation at each maize growth stage. Grain yield increased by 2.32% and 11.33% (2016), and 1.55% and 7.87% (2017), respectively, when compared with the urea CK1 (233 kg N/ha) and CK2 (210 kg N/ha) treatments. Additionally, during the growth period of the stabilised fertiliser treatment, the stability of the synchronisation relationship between nitrogen absorption and absorption of spring maize was significantly higher than other treatments, and the effect was the best. Therefore, we conclude that the stabilised fertiliser is the most suitable option for promotion and application in spring maize in Northeast China.

Intercropping system plays a crucial role in improving crop yield, nitrogen utilisation efficiency (NUE) and economic benefit. The difference in crop yield and interspecific relationship under different bandwidth and row ratio allocation patterns are still unclear. A field experiment was carried out to explore change regularities between crop yield and interspecific relationships under maize soybean intercropping with different bandwidths and row ratios. The results showed that the yield of intercropped crops was lower than that of the sole crop. The nitrogen accumulation (NA), NUE and nitrogen competition ratio was the highest under the intercropping mode with a bandwidth of 2.0 m, which indicated that this mode was more conducive to the N uptake and utilisation in crops. In all intercropping systems, nitrogen equivalent ratio (NER) and land equivalent ratio (LER) were all greater than one, indicating that intercropping systems were conducive to improving land utilisation efficiency and NUE. Under the same bandwidth pattern, expanding the maize soybean row ratio from 2:4 to 3:4 was beneficial to the improvement of LER, NER, NUE, crop group yield. In conclusion, it was preferable in the NA, NUE, crop group yield under the system of bandwidth 2.0 m and row ratio 2:2, which could be a reference for maize soybean intercropping system.

The purposes of this pilot study were to explore the temperature changes of the paw pads in healthy cats before and after a 6-min walking test (6MWT), and to further compare the accuracy of the point and line region of interest (ROI) selection methods of the thermal imaging. Five healthy intact cats were recruited and trained to run on the treadmill, and to keep still during the standing phase on a glass panel when capturing thermographic imaging data. The paw pad temperature was recorded using a thermal camera and then analysed using both the point and line ROI before and after the 6MWT. The symmetry index (SI) between the limbs (left and right) was further calculated. Compared to the baseline, there were significant increases in the paw pad temperature of the forelimbs (point of left P < 0.001, point of right P = 0.048, point of average P = 0.002, line of left P < 0.001, line of right P = 0.007, line of average P < 0.001), hindlimbs (point of left P < 0.001, point of right P < 0.001, point of average P < 0.001, line of left P < 0.001, line of right P < 0.001, line of average P < 0.001), and average value after the 6MWT both using the point and line ROI selection methods. However, there is no temperature difference between the point and line ROI either before or after the 6MWT. In addition, no difference in the SI was found between the baseline and post-test or between the point and line ROI. These results preliminarily indicated that a 6WMT and thermal imaging could be a good combination for further clinical practices to recognise lameness or any other gait disabilities in cats, and both the point and line ROI selection methods can be considered when analysing thermographic data.

Actinidia arguta (Siebold et Zucc.) Planch. ex Miq. is functionally a cryptic dioecious plant and successful pollination is crucial for achieving high quality fruit. The extent and bases of morphological variability in female genotypes have been well studied, but here we focus on the males. Mature plants of seven male A. arguta genotypes were studied in 2016 and 2017 during which a suite of phenological and morphological features was measured on ten randomly chosen one-year-old canes on each plant. This analysis was complemented by two other, specialized measures potentially related to pollination efficiency, namely pollen quality, and quantity. The time of bud break was similar each year across all genotypes and the pollen quality was uniformly very high (viability - 95.0-99.9% and germination - 89.0-97.3%). However, the ten genotypes exhibited high variability in both the number of flowers per inflorescence and pollen quantity, indicating marked differences in their flowering potential and efficiency as pollinizers. The male kiwiberry indicators developed in this study - flowering potential and pollen efficiency, appear to be effective tools for the comparative evaluation of male A. arguta genotypes.

Changes in the gene pool and homogeneity of red clover cultivars occur over time. Therefore, it is necessary to constantly renew the breeding material and foundation seed. Moreover, the market also prescribes a new demand. Based on the Natura 2000 habitats profile, we collected seeds from 39 locations across Lithuania in 2016. The phenotypic traits that affect the seed yield of red clover were analysed in 2018. The homogeneity of the populations with reference to the seed yield and 1 000 seed weight (TSW) were determined as well. Also, the possibility of obtaining two seed yields per season under drought conditions from wild genotypes of red clover was analysed. We found that the final seed yield mostly depends on the seed number per flower head (SN/FH), which strongly correlated with 1^st component of PCA during first (r = 0.91) and second (0.92) harvest. Meanwhile, the cluster analysis showed that the typical wild red clover has a lower seed weight than the cultivars and could be clustered on the basis of seed homogeneity. Finally, based on the seed phenotype and harvest components, there were five prospective accessions (2177, 2871, 2876, 2898 and 2899) for a new cultivar prototype.